How Kim Kardashian's Colorist Got Her The Perfect Shade Of Pink

Update: Kim's rosy new look may have caught us by surprise, but for colorist Chris Appleton, a lot of planning ahead went into the big change. "Kim and I wanted to do a pink that would complement her skin tone," he tells Refinery29 exclusively. "There are so many types of pinks to try, so it's important that you work with one that suits your skin tone to get the right look."

Appleton also opted not to re-bleach his client's hair to keep it in tip-top shape, and instead worked with her natural grown-out roots for the final look. Aside from his trusty Olaplex, Appleton recommends the Color Wow Kale Cocktail Bionic Tonic after every shampoo post-color — he says it's proven to reduce breakage by 50%.

And it turns out the switch-up was a long time coming for Kim, too — she was just waiting for the right moment to pull it off. "Going to Japan was the perfect time to try something new and fun," Appleton tells us. "Kim and I have talked about it for a while, and Japan felt like the right time to do it!" You know what they say: When in Tokyo, right?

The thing about Kim Kardashian is that, just when we think we've clocked her vibe, she does an about-face to prove we're actually clueless. Take the reality star and beauty entrepreneur’s comments (made just this weekend, no less) at the Create and Cultivate conference in Los Angeles, where she told an audience that she’s enjoyed her blonde moment, but is a brunette at heart. It was a set-up that had us sure she’d be going back to her natural roots soon.

Then bam: The very next day, Kardashian sprinkled social media with selfies of bright pink hair offset with dark roots.

Certainly the change came compliments of another one-off wig — or maybe it came via tricky filter work in Instagram Stories? (Hey, as dutiful followers of Kim K.’s evolving beauty look, we’ve been through this before — remember her icy-blue do? Besides, just last night, Kris Jenner showed up on Keeping Up With The Kardashians — and all over Instagram — in a platinum wig.)

But as hairstylist Chris Appleton (the architect of her latest haircolor and one of Kim’s main wingmasters) explained on Instagram, the bright candy-pink hue was created on the star's actual strands.

The stylist teased the look with a previous Instagram post, in which he showed a freshly-mixed bowl of pink hair color. In the background? A bottle of Olaplex, the game-changing hair-repair solution that works to mend the broken bonds in hair that occur as a result of coloring — and a stylist’s best secret weapon for taking hair from one highly-damaging process to another.

How long will Kim stick with the look — a time-honored favorite of festival season, which is just kicking off in Southern California? Is the shade, which dominated fashion-week street style, just a quick stopover on her way to darker hair... or something she’ll be rocking through Coachella? For that intel, we’ll have to track her evolution on social media, just like everyone else. Because if we’ve learned anything about one of the world’s seemingly most open stars, it’s that when it comes to beauty transformations, she loves to keep us guessing.